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Thursday, January 26, 2017

KC Bier Meisters 34th Annual Competition Registration Ends Tomorrow!

Posted by
Jay Aber

It's that time of year again--Kansas City Bier Meister's annual homebrew competition is coming up soon! This is the premier homebrew competition in the region, and by far my favorite to volunteer at every year. I think I say this every year, but this competition looks like the best they've ever had--both for competitors and volunteers. The competition judging will be held between Feb. 7 - Feb. 11, with the primary judging sessions, and the awards banquet on Saturday 2/11. Beer entries and judging registration closes tomorrow, Jan. 27 at 5:00 p.m. sharp! So before you read the rest of this post, go get yourself registered!

We want YOU to be a Beer Judge

Of course, I have to put in my annual call for new judges. Every novice judge is paired with an experienced judge. It's an awesome learning opportunity and super fun. So don't be afraid to sign up as a judge even if you have no experience--that's how all of us started out and I can guarantee you'll have a good time. And if you're still not convinced, check out all the stuff you get for volunteering:

Free meal with every judging session

Commemorative glass

Commemorative beer shield (to top your beer glass with)

Raffle ticket for each session you help with (and you can buy more raffle tickets as well)

Access to the Saturday afternoon Sour Beer Panel (with panelists from the Bruery and Crane)

And of course--lots and lots of free beer! (In addition to all the homebrew, usually a half dozen or more local breweries bring in a couple kegs and growlers of specialty stuff to drink. In the past we've had beers from Boulevard, Martin City, Blind Tiger, Crane, KC Bier Co, Green Room, Rock & Run, Cinder Block, and more.)

The raffle has over $8,000 worth of stuff in it, all donated by the competition sponsors (thank you!!). And imagining that there's only a hundred or so volunteers at the event, you're pretty much guaranteed to come out with some free stuff.

So go register!(A list of the judging sessions available is at the end of this post)

The Competition

Right now, the competition is on track to have more beer entries than ever before. As of right now they're sitting at about 550 entries and will likely hit their 600 entry maximum before registration closes. The quality of beers that I've judged at this competition have been astounding. Some of the best beers I've ever had were at this competition (including some Crane beers before Crane Brewing Co existed!).

And even if you don't have world class beers to enter--even if you have an absolutely awful beer that you can't quite figure out, enter it! As licensed beer judges, our number one mission is to promote brewing and beer literacy. Believe it or not, an experienced judge can tell you how to fix problems with your beer or improve your beer without even hearing anything about how you brewed it. You're not going to ever get this by letting your buddies sample your beer!

And you never know, you might just win one of the two scale up prizes are up for grabs this year--at Crane Brewing and KC Bier Co. If you win these prizes, you get to go down to the brewery and work with the professional brewers there to make your beer recipe on their professional systems and have it served at the tasting rooms. If you've had KC Bier Co's fantastic Schwartzbier in the last year, know that that was a result of Amanda & Myles Burkemper's winning beer from last year's KC Bier Meister Competition.